


One For the Road

by steelrunner



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Difference, Crushes, F/F, Fade to Black, Flirting, Hook-Up, Post-Season/Series 06 Finale, background Sheith - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 23:41:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15472677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelrunner/pseuds/steelrunner
Summary: Krolia and Romelle start their intergalactic road trip.





	One For the Road

Krolia had always had problems with her sense of self-control.

This, she had been informed of many times, was a bad quality in a Blade of Marmora member. Krolia always defended herself by saying that most of her impulsive actions did not actually occur in the field, though she did rely on her intuition from time to time. Her impulses struck her most frequently out of the action, when she wasn’t focused on the immediate danger of a situation; for example, trying to wrestle Antok barehanded…or having a child on on a planet where her entire existence needed to stay under wraps. It had always worked out eventually.

“Are you sure this is a smart decision?” Romelle said as she climbed into the cabin of the Altean ship behind Krolia, taking the passenger seat. “I told you, I really don’t know how to pilot.”

“Well, I do,” Krolia said. “The only thing I don’t know is how to read Altean. If you tell me what the controls say, I think we can work out a system.”

Romelle still looked hesitant. “If you say so...”

“Good.” Krolia pointed to a clutch located in a prominent place on the dashboard - could be an ignition starter. “What does the label on that say?”

Romelle leaned over to look at the button as she strapped herself in. “Well -that one says ‘brake lock.’”

Piecemeal solution or not, they were prepared to lift off by the time Allura called for them all to depart. Liftoff was a touch shaky, as one might expect in any old ship, but once they had broken through the atmosphere the shuttle kept up fairly well with the Lions. Krolia waited until they were a few minutes out before she eased up and took some of her focus off of the steering; they looked to be in the clear for now, and the others would warn her of any approaching environmental hazards.

She looked over at Romelle, who seemed to be staring off in thought - while still looking in her direction. “Penny for your thoughts,” she said, borrowing a human idiom.

“Hmm?” Romelle blinked, then sat up. “Oh. Well…I was just wondering why you decided to pilot the shuttle instead of stay in the Black Lion. I would have thought you would want to stay with your son.”

Once, Krolia would have agreed utterly. After two years of living together - separate ships seemed like a good distance test. “He’s entirely capable of handling himself,” she said. “Besides, I think him and Shiro needed some alone time right now.”

Romelle’s brow wrinkled. “Oh. Well, wouldn’t it be more helpful to have someone else on board the Lion, in case Shiro needs medical assistance?”

Krolia barely kept herself from chuckling, though she couldn’t resist a slight smirk as she looked over at Romelle. “I mean that they need some _alone_ time.”

“Oh!” Romelle seemed to catch the meaning that time - her eyes widened, and she flushed, her pale cheeks going pink. Alteans and humans had that in common, it seemed. It was cute. “Oh, I see.”

Krolia didn’t respond. After a few moments of silence, Romelle finally seemed to arrive at the question she wanted to ask. “Then - are the other Paladins, in their Lions - ”

This time, Krolia definitely chuckled. “Not that I know of. But I don’t ask them about their business.”

“Oh.”

Romelle went quiet. When Krolia glanced over, she was fiddling with a strand of hair from her long blonde twin tails. She was a little awkward in the area of personal relationships, it seemed, as well as obviously unfamiliar with the world outside her little colony. But just because one could be a little awkward didn’t mean they were inexperienced. Roy had proven that well enough.

Krolia shook herself a little, pushing that thought to the back of her mind as she felt Romelle’s eyes land on her. After a few ticks of the gaze not shifting Krolia looked over at Romelle.

“Are - ” Romelle swallowed audibly as she went pink all the way to her ears. “Are _we_ \- ”

Oh, dear stars. Krolia swallowed the laugh that bubbled up in the back of her throat. Though to be honest, it wasn’t as though she found the thought of Romelle laughable. Far from it, with her brilliantly violet eyes, her long, silky hair, her lithe form - and okay, Krolia was ending that train of thought there. But it was sweet how flustered she was.

A spontaneous thought wondered how much more flustered Krolia could make her.

“I hadn’t planned on that,” she said gently. “Unless you had?”

As it turned out, Romelle could go even pinker. “I-I was just wondering!”

“I’m flattered, either way,” Krolia said with a smile. “Though I doubt you’re much older than my son.”

Romelle huffed a little at that, crossing her arms. “I’m a hundred and two decaphoebs. I reached my majority ages ago.”

“Ah,” Krolia said, thoroughly mollified. “That’s fine, I suppose.”

When she turned back to look at the starry windshield, she got that unmistakeable feeling of being sized up in return after looking someone over, the gaze of two people evaluating one another. It was the way Krolia had looked over her fellow cadets when she had been looking for someone else to burn out a post-battle high with, before she joined the Blade and all her battles became secret. The way she looked at something when there was an impulse dancing in her fingertips.

This time, Krolia was the one to look over. “Were _you_ planning on it?”

Romelle looked down at her feet. “No,” she muttered. “But I…I wouldn’t have minded if that were so. At all.”

Krolia - well, she couldn’t entirely suppress a twinge of pleasure at that. Who wouldn’t be proud of admiration from someone young, pretty, and clever? Despite her honest reaction, she forced herself to give out a more mature response. “Like I said, I really do appreciate the thought - really. And if we weren’t stuck here…well.” She shrugged. “What I mean is, until we find some form of civilization, this is about as much privacy as we’ll get. And I still need to focus on piloting.”

Abruptly, Romelle leaned over the dashboard, pushing an innocuous button located underneath the steering controls. It beeped, and the ship subtly steadied itself. Krolia looked over at her in surprise.

“That,” Romelle said shyly, “is the autopilot.”

The two of them looked at one another over the dashboard. Krolia studied Romelle, taking in her still-pink face and her cute but practical clothing, and factoring in the possibility of seeing her blush with arousal instead of embarrassment; the possibility that she would get to see her with that clothing _off_. Impulses, impulses, impulses...

“Five doboshes,” Krolia said. She started unbuckling her seat harness as Romelle stared on, wide-eyed. “To start with. I want to come back and check on the autopilot then, just to be safe.”

Romelle nodded, hands quickly fumbling with her own harness. “And after five…?”

Krolia rose from her seat and leaned in towards Romelle, grinning with anticipation.“We’ll figure it out from there.”


End file.
